Letters to the Editor

Political pretzel logic

I've just finished in contempt of Canada (NOW, March 24-30), and I couldn't disagree more with Alice Klein. Quite frankly, in my view there are more holes in her premise than Swiss cheese. I'm tired of the faulty argument so often propagated by the left that the majority of Canadians voted against Stephen Harper in the last federal election.

Well, no, actually they didn't. Sixty-three per cent of voters registered their support for one of the other four parties, not necessarily against Harper. By your logic, if the NDP picks up 16 per cent of the vote this time, as today's Ipsos Reid poll would indicate, does that mean that 84 per cent of all voters voted against Layton?

Michael Boyko

Toronto

Tories on coalition crusade

Judging by the number of times the word "coalition" was sprayed around the House of Commons the other day by various Conservative MPs - 18 by my count - the Conservatives want to suggest that the other party leaders are itching to band together in a Nazi-style putsch to shanghai democracy.

This is amusing coming from a party that is itself a Reform, Alliance and Conservative coalition and whose leader, in 2004, contemplated joining with other parties to challenge Paul Martin's government.

The Tories assume that Canadians don't give a damn about history and that we know nothing of how parliamentary democracy works. He is wrong on both counts.

Geoff Rytell

Toronto

Harper blast well deserved

Many thanks to Alice Klein for her hard-hitting, well-deserved anti-Harper blast.

Harper is a promoter of Canadian militarism, and chief lobbyist for the environmentally destructive tar sands. His de-funding of many women's advocacy organizations and the [Court] Challenges program should have been listed in your Chronology Of Deceit.

Don Weitz

Toronto

Earth Hour inspiration

Regarding How Can We Take Earth Hour To The Next Level? (NOW, March 24-30). I like the idea of Earth Hour. This is our chance to at least do something for our planet.

Unfortunately, not many people were inspired to participate in Toronto this year. Moreover, many people did not know about the campaign because it was not sufficiently covered in the mass media. As for me, I had unplugged all electronic devices and spent Saturday night talking with my girlfriend. It was great.

Sergey Pavletsov

Toronto

Clearing the CommunityAIR

Not sure who writes your headlines, but CommunityAIR is not an "Islander" organization (NOW, March 24-30)? Although we value the immense support we get from Island residents, we're energized by folks from all round the waterfront, and by many who live elsewhere.

CAIR's membership comes from all those Torontonians who value the amazing potential of our waterfront for recreational and residential uses but who find the noise and pollution from the ever-expanding Island Airport intolerable.

Brian Iler

Chair, CommunityAIR

Toronto

Forces of our nature

Wayne Roberts writes that we have it all wrong when we fight nature (NOW, March 24-30). And I thought this was how we progress.

Japan's earthquake and tsunami should once again have taught us that nature is not always a benign force. Humans have always bred plants and animals. Canadian pioneers grew McIntosh apples and hardier strains of wheat, and the ancients bred mules for endurance.

People killed predators such as bears and wolves when clearing the land.

Maybe I read too much science fiction, but I hope one day we will be able to control earthquakes and tornados. The trick is to find the right balance in both conquering nature and living with it.

Jacob Mendlovic

Toronto

Who has seen the wind?

Letter-writer Barbara Klunder claims that our money should be invested in wind turbines of all sizes, partly because they don't "melt down and fatally poison air, water, people, animals and plants" (NOW, March 24-30).

They can kill birds, though, and certainly do cause vast amounts of visual pollution and destroy the landscape and increasingly even block the psychological escape route of an uncluttered view of the sea. A world covered with wind turbines will not be worth looking at.